John Lannon of Shannonwatch makes the decisive case for evicting the US military from Ireland once and for all.
The Irish government needs to go beyond symbolic gestures to help people of Gaza.
As the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement points out, one of the main reasons Israel is able to violate international law is because governments fail to meet their legal obligations to hold it to account. Given the genocidal actions of the Israeli Government, it is now well past time that governments imposed economic sanctions including trade embargoes, tariffs, export controls, and technology transfer restrictions.
Ending of the supply of arms to Israel is of critical importance. And in that regard, the Irish government must start paying attention to what is going through our airports & airspace between the US and Israel.The US is by far the biggest supplier of arms to Israel, and the Irish government allows their military to use Shannon Airport on a daily basis.
There are troop carrier flights to and from bases in Qatar, Kuwait, Djibouti and elsewhere. There are USAir Force flights. And US diplomatic flights, on the way to or from Israel in some cases. On May 25th for example, a US Air Force Gulfstream arrived at Shannon from Camp Springs in Washington, was refuelled by airport workers, and took off again for Tel Aviv.
In fact, Shannonwatch has tracked a number of flights to Israel via Shannon Airport.
Given that there appears to be no red lines for the USwhen it comes to Israel, and that nothing Israel does is too barbaric for them, the Irish government should not be allowing these flights through Shannon.
US war machine
Let’s not forget that the United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel. It has sent at least $12.5 billion in military aid there since October 7th. In fact there were so many arms shipments to Israel at one stage that the Department of Defensesometimes struggled to find sufficient cargo aircraft to deliver them according to a report by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
The White House has even bypassed congressional approval for sales on a number of occasions by invoking emergency authority.
The shipments from the US have included precision-guided munitions, artillery ammunition, small-diameter bombs, and bunker-buster rockets. The Biden administration authorized the transfer of over 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel in April. A week earlier it approved the transfer of 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs.
Like many other weapons supplied to Israel by the US, these are being used to kill civilians.
On June 8th Al Jazeera reported that an Israeli attack on a UN-run school in central Gaza that killed 40 people was conducted using US manufactured weapons.
At the time of writing, Israeli forces continue to pound central Gaza. This is happening a day after they killed over 270 Palestinians and injuring around 700 others during a hostage rescue raid, done with US assistance. Munitions made in the US were also shown to be used in the deadly Israeli strike on a displacement camp in Rafah on May 26th.
Biden’s lies
Given the level of US complicity in Israel’s genocide, it’s impossible to take President Joe Biden claims that he wants “an end to the Gaza war” seriously. As the Secretary of State Antony Blinkenarrives in Israel to talk about a ceasefire (on their terms), Israeli forces are bombarding Central, South Gaza and their tanks continue to advance into Rafah.
The US has also sent warships and military aircraft into the Eastern Mediterranean in support of Israel.So while we may not have large shipments of weapons coming through Shannon or Irish airspace, it is likely that US personnel deployed to the ships in the region are passing through.
We may also have the people arranging the arms deals coming through Shannon. And it is quite possible that components or personnel linked to the US arms shipments travel through Irish airspace.
Despite the rulings of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, the US is continuing to actively support the Israeli genocide in Gaza. And the Irish government is facilitating that support by granting permits to US military aircraft.
Irish ‘exemptions’
On May 29th Senators in the Civil Engagement Group proposed an Air Navigation and Transport (Arms Embargo) Bill to the Seanad.
Under the existing Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Orders 1973 and 1989, the carriage of “weapons, munitions and dangerous goods” in civilian aircraft passing through Ireland is supposed to be prohibited. But the regulations allow the Minister for Transport to grant exemptions, while also giving them the power to order inspections.
Over 1,000 exemptions were granted in 2023 alone.The greatest number of exemptions were granted to the United States for aircrafts on contract to the US military, operated by companies like Omni Air International.
And no inspections have taken place since 2020.
Separately, under the terms of the Air Navigation (Foreign Military Aircraft) Order, 1952, aircraft operated directly by the US military that overfly Ireland or land in Shannon are given diplomatic clearance by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. This is done based on “assurances” from the US authoritiesthat the flights don’t have weapons on board or are not involved in military operations.
Such credulity is shocking. Do they really think a country that’s willing to supply weapons to murder tens of thousands of innocent people will not tell liesabout what’s on its planes?
Shannonwatch and others have been calling for an end to the US military use of Shannon for over twodecades now. And we’ve always said, that at the very least, there needs to be inspections of the military and military contracted planes.
But this is more urgent than ever now, given what’s happening in Gaza.
Shamefully, the Arms Embargo Bill was blocked by the government. And the Minister for Transport Eamonn Ryan pledged to provide ‘legal mechanisms’ within six months to allow random weapons checks on aircraft.
But why wait 6 months? And why random inspections only?
End US military use of Shannon
There is a genocide happening in Gaza now. How many more people will have died and been mutilated before he gets around to doing random checks?
The Arms Embargo Bill would have banned the granting of exemptions for the carriage of weapons, munitions or dangerous dual use goods on civilian flights going directly to Israel, or to or from the countries which export weapons to Israel or where there is a significant likelihood they could end up in Israel.
The importance of tackling indirect transfers was highlighted in February when the Dutch courts ordered the Government there to block the export of F-35 fighter jet parts because of the clear risk that it could contribute to severe violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
The Bill would also have made inspections of flights requesting exemptions mandatory, and require that any weapons found in contravention of the arms embargo would be seized.
Ending the US military use of Shannon should not require a Bill to be passed into law. It could be done by the Ministers for Transport and Foreign Affairs simply not providing permits or exemptions to US military and military contracted flights. And if that’s going to take them to long, the very least they should do is inspect the planes to see what and who is on board.
We should not be allowing war criminals to enter and leave the airport at Shannon.
In his speech recognising the State of Palestine, Taoiseach Simon Harris told the Dáil that it was “the right thing to do”. If he is really interested in doing the right thing, he must stop facilitating the genocide that is happening to them right now.
He must end the US military use of Shannon.
John Lannon has been a peace and human rights campaigner for over two decades. He is a founding member of Shannonwatch, and currently works in the field of refugee and migrant support.
Shannonwatch is a group of activists based in the mid-West of Ireland. The group’s primary focus is on ending the US military use of Shannon Airport. They hold monthly protest vigils at the airport on the second Sunday of every month. They also do continuous monitoring of all military flights in and out of Shannon.
For more information, see www.shannonwatch.org or email shannonwatch@gmail.com.
